State police respond to 'ongoing situation' at SC prison

Monday

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — State police have been called to one of South Carolina's most dangerous prisons.

The South Carolina Corrections Department says on Twitter State Law Enforcement Division agents responded just before midnight Sunday to "an ongoing situation" at Lee Correctional Institution.

No details were released. Some local media outlets reported the local coroner had been called to the scene.

The maximum-security facility that houses about 1,500 inmates in Bishopville, about 55 miles (90 km) from Columbia, is home to some of South Carolina's most violent, longest-serving offenders. In recent years, there have been several large insurrections, including one in which an inmate overpowered a guard and used his keys to free others from their cells.

Two officers were stabbed in a 2015 fight. One inmate killed another during a fight in February.

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